my dyi refug

beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
I just started keeping saltwater fish last november and I must have killed at least 2 dozen fish already. I try all kinds of ideas to help with this but nothing seems to work for me. I have money but I just want to have chorls an stuff without putting out all that money for a bunch of fish. This is a pic of my new refug in the stand. it is a 15g $5.00 container that just fit in with the length going front to back.
 
overanalyzer

overanalyzer

Active Member
Cool - is that a sand bed I see??
What is the light - a clip on? What type of bulb?? Have 18 Watts NO over my refugium but thinking of adding a clip on for generally light .....
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member

Originally posted by overanalyzer
Cool - is that a sand bed I see??
well play sand anyway. just like the display. bout $3.00 or so for 50#.
What is the light - a clip on? What type of bulb?? Have 18 Watts NO over my refugium but thinking of adding a clip on for generally light .....
Just a clip on. has a 900 lumen flourescent spot type bulb. bout 18 watts supposed to be equilivant to a 90 watt incandescent. I leave it on 24h.
 
overanalyzer

overanalyzer

Active Member

Originally posted by beaslbob
well plan sand anyway. just like the display. bout $3.00 or so.

southdown play sand or just regular old silicate play sand??
Also - the acronym is supposed to be DIY not DYI - which I read as do yourself in .... sorry :D
 
D

dustybottoms

Guest
can you please be so kind as to explain the plumming? I need to do a similar setup, but I am going to do a 10 gal. I was thinking of letting gravity pull the water down to the refrig, then a pump to go back up, although i dont see how one can match to flows perfectly, eventually it would either run dry or overflow, can someone explain??? :)
 
salty jeff

salty jeff

Member
Dittos on the DustyBottoms reply. I need to build one myself for my 42 g. hex. Any help, pics, or suggestions from other board members would also be very much help.
Thanks, Jeff
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
Gee never expected to see this interest. let me try to answer questions.
thomas No change in levels experienced or expected. sure it added about 1/5 to the total volumn but that effect is not measurable. Plus the plant life in the refug was taken from the display so no difference should be expected.
Over: just plain old play sand not labeled southdown. woopis on dyi LOL
Dusty and Jeff: Plumbing was one of those things that was easy and cheap but took time and effort. It is so cheap ($10-$20) that you can screw up a few times to get it right. Just go to lowes or home depot and look at what they got. on the return lines I used 1/2'" pvc and the overflow was 1" pvc. I bought the HOB overflow which was adjustable and maintains syphon. Basically the overflow can handle lotsa flow and much more than the powerhead powering the return. So gravity powers the overflow. If you used a more powerful return then gravity would allow more to flow through the overflow. Here is a schematic of the plumbing with dashed lines being hidden by something. Let me know if this is not clear enough.
 
jarvis

jarvis

Member
uhhhhh......Bob...........fuge..............DSB.......... making live rock.:eek: I must have missed some stuff this past week. It starting to look better Bob. Now if we can convince you to do a water change. Rubbermaid tubs work great for a fuge and cheap and can come in many sizes to talor to your needs. I like the wooden stake under the fuge. You never know when those pesky vampires are going to show up.:p
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member

Originally posted by Salty Jeff
Bob, do you have something in your design to stop a over flow? Like if a pump crapped out.
will try to attach a drawing of the overflow bought at an lfs. The box inside the tank traps water even if the tank level is below the slots in the box. That way when the water is restored, the syphon is still there and the overflow still works
I also found out that the return from the powerhead forms a syphon which will fill up the refug. Had to keep it's output high enough to break syphon before flooding the refugium.
 
salty jeff

salty jeff

Member
Thanks Bob,
So I take it the overflow from your LFS stops any kind of flooding? It looks like if the power went out the refug would fill up until the water level in the tank dropped below the overflow box hanging in the tank.
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't say it stops all possible floods, but I think you got the correct understanding. Actually the water level in the tank will fall until the bottom of the vertical slots are reached. Obviously, with a poweroutage some water will continue down the overflow until that happens. So the fuge does have be empty enough to handle that water.
 
salty jeff

salty jeff

Member
Thanks for the info Bob.
What do you have in your photo where the water comes into your sump. It looks like some kind of rock. I was thinking about having a foam pad on top of some agrigate. What do you think?
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member

Originally posted by Salty Jeff
Thanks for the info Bob.
What do you have in your photo where the water comes into your sump. It looks like some kind of rock. I was thinking about having a foam pad on top of some agrigate. What do you think?
Will try to attach a top view. You are correct, I used landscaping lava rocks. Thought they would be good and porous plus they were only $3.00 for 50#. The water goes down the overflow then across the horizontal pipe which has 1/8" holes on the bottom. It then drips onto the lava rocks. The box has curshed coral in the bottom with the rocks on top of both sides. Foam would probably work just experiment and see what you like.
 
overanalyzer

overanalyzer

Active Member

Originally posted by beaslbob
Will try to attach a top view. You are correct, I used landscaping lava rocks. Thought they would be good and porous plus they were only $3.00 for 50#. The water goes down the overflow then across the horizontal pipe which has 1/8" holes on the bottom. It then drips onto the lava rocks. The box has curshed coral in the bottom with the rocks on top of both sides. Foam would probably work just experiment and see what you like.
Hey Beaslbob - you may want to watch out as a lot of lava rock contain heavy metals .... just a thought - something to keep in mind.
 
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